Glens Forestry Rally 2015

Enniskillen navigator Barry McNulty claimed his second outright win of the season on Saturday as he partnered driver Marc Donnelly to victory in the Glens Forestry Rally. The pair took the lead in their Subaru after the third stage and raced away from the chasing pack to take a convincing victory and add the title to their Bushwacker rally success earlier in the season.

The Mid Antrim Motor Club organised event took place over 38 stage miles with the competitors tackling two stages each covered three times. Donnelly and McNulty posted the third fastest time on the opening stage, five second adrift of the similar Impreza of Desi Henry, but they reduced that gap on stage two, and overhauled their rival to take the lead with the fastest time of the day on stage three. Another quickest time on stage four opened up a lead of almost 14 seconds, and their advantage was increased further when Henry retired on stage five. With a comfortable cushion the pair were able to coast home to seal the top spot and round off their season in emphatic style.

Fivemiletown driver Shane McGirr was once again in the battle for two wheel drive honours, and although he had to give second best to Adrian Hetherington on the day, he did enough to win his class after an epic battle with a trio of Ford Escorts. The familiar names of McGirr, Hetherington and Kelly were joined by Oran Donnelly as they traded tenths of seconds in a bid to finish as the fastest two wheel drive car. Shane McGirr and co driver Jackie Elliott were almost 10 seconds off the early pacesetter Kelly, and then had to borrow a differential from the class leader to keep them in the event, but they picked up the pace as the event wore on. With two stages remaining just over five seconds separated all four cars, with Shane fourth of the quartet going into the last test. The local driver produced a stunning final stage however to overhaul both Kelly and Donnelly on the final stage and claim ninth overall and first in class 13.